The Ophites, also called Ophians (Greek Ὀφιανοί Ophianoi, from ὄφις ophis "snake"), were a Christian Gnostic sect depicted by Hippolytus of Rome (170–235) in a lost work, the Syntagma ("arrangement").

Ophite, (from Greek ophis, “serpent”), member of any of several Gnostic sects that flourished in the Roman Empire during the 2nd century ad and for several centuries thereafter. A variety of Gnostic sects, such as the Naassenes and Cainites, are included under the designation Ophites.

It appears both Celsus and Origen had independent access to a similar diagram attributed to a Gnostic group called the "Ophites". Origen summarizes Celsus's description of the diagram (which Celsus gives in context of describing an initiation ritual), …

Collective name for several Gnostic sects which regarded the serpent (Greek, ὄφις; Hebrew, "naḥash"; hence called also Naasseni) as the image of creative wisdom.

The Ophite Diagrams are ritual and esoteric diagrams used by the Ophite sect of Gnosticism, who revered the serpent from the Garden of Eden as a symbol of wisdom, which the malevolent Demiurge tried to hide from Adam and Eve. Celsus and his opponent Origen (Contra Celsum, vi. §§ 24 - 38) both describe the diagrams, though not in the same way.

Jun 11, 2018 · Ophites (Gk., ophis, ‘serpent’). A group of gnostic sects. According to them the wise serpent (Genesis 3. 14 f.) symbolized a higher god, who acts to liberate humanity and give illumination. Some sects worshipped the serpent, regarding the fall as God's denying of promised wisdom. They were also known as Naasenes.

The Ophites explain as follows the esoteric doctrine concerning Isis, and the genital member of Osiris, lost, sought after, and enveloped by her seven times in a black (or dark blue) * vestment.

The Ophites originated in Egypt, probably from some relation to the Egyptian serpent-worship, and spread thence into Syria and Asia Minor. They continued to exist as a sect after other forms of Gnosticism had died out, the emperor Justinian enacting laws against them ( Cod.

The Ophites, derived from the Greek word "ophis" meaning serpent, were a group of several Gnostic sects that flourished in the Roman Empire during the 2nd century AD and persisted for several centuries thereafter.

Mar 17, 2015 · The Ophites (from the Greek word for snake), also known as the Serpentinians, were associated with Gnostic and Egyptian sects around 100 CE. They honored the serpent written of in Genesis 3:1-14. "Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made.